Listen, I Understand Why Suite Isn't A Popular Season. Generally Speaking, The Best Parts Of It Are Generally

In my opinion Precure is at its best when it incorporates the communities that the girls are protecting into it.

This of course stems all the way back from the original Futari wa. That shows main premise is "Ordinary days and people are important", and is by nature a normal slice of life whose drama is highlighted by the lengths Nagisa and Honoka go to protect it. As such, the girls have an extensive supporting cast, and the climatic battles often feature some level of emotional support by the supporting cast, even if they're not literally physically present. The girls are the vessels through whom humanities collective will to live is channeled. We spend our time witnessing this will within the people in the girls communities.

I've mentioned before how big a theme of community is in Fresh. There are a ton of minor side characters who make brief but frequent appearances to help flesh out this bustling city. In the end the girls reveal themselves to their community.

Princess and Heartcatch make great use of the victim of the week format to help build a strong supporting cast, understanding the motivations of these characters, who in turn help support the Cures in some way during the 11th hour.

This is part of what makes Happiness Charge and Doki Doki fall relatively flat to me. Their supporting casts aren't as fully developed. There's more one off victims. But there are still moments where this aspect shines, to me in Doki Doki in the involvement of the girl's families. The moment where Mana shouts her identity as Cure Heart is fantastic to me, I can practically see the gears turning in the family member's heads. The Oh Shit of it all.

While an identity reveal isn't a prerequisite for a strong sense of community it certainly contributes to the feelings. Both Futari wa's manage to have a strong sense of community, despite their final fights taking place when earth is reduced to a barren wasteland devoid of people, the fact they still take place on earth helps them make heavy use of the fact that despite being currently devoid of life these are places where there are meant to be life, and where life can exist again.

It's a big part of why while I love Suite, I feel it's objectively weaker than it's two predecessors despite mimicking them in so many aspects. In fact it's probably tied with the futari wa's for my favorite season. But I don't think it's nearly as good as it could be in part because of the lack of community compared to its predecessors. But what we do get of Kanon owns majority real estate in my heart. The entire town is so goddamn weird, and just down for whatever. If I could add an identity reveal to any season it'd be this one. I struggle to believe that no one in this town doesn't know (though that might be because they all are so oblivious). I'd take it away from Healin Good and Doki Doki if I had to and I love those seasons reveals.

Smile I feel is far more popular than Suite, and while I enjoy smile and think it's simplicity is to its strength it's really no surprise that the episode I care most about, more than 3/4 of the season combined, is the episode where Nao sort of kind of has an identity reveal. That's also partially because I just have a huge soft spot for kids. (Muse is my all time favorite. Go, make things worse you funky little messed up 9 year old. And I am probably one of the few people who actually LIKE the baby plotlines... which makes it honestly such an accomplishment that DeliPa got me to dislike their baby). But Smile has a lot of plots that are really self-contained to the main cast, and while I do enjoy how fleshed out the girls' families are the fact that they all turn into living rocks when the villains attack really makes them less interesting to me. Same with Tropical-Rouge, but Tropical-Rouge doesn't even fully flesh out any family that isn't Manatsu's.

Maho Tsukai and Star Twinkle both have fun main characters and worldbuilding, but the fact that, like Smile, the action and human town exist sort of separately from each other really keeps them from catching my attention. I want to like them. And I do. I just don't quite love them. I really love HiroSky's cures in particular, and adore the episodes where they are part of their communities, but do wish we had more of that.

And for what it's worth the miracle lights bring this sense of community into our reality, and they used to use the side cast to help illustrate this in the all star movies. It's great.

There is something in the fact that instead of Hikari, Tailmon found Vamdemon, dwelling in the very castle that the chosen digimon originated in.

Because of course Nyaromon should have grown up with the others. She should have grown up playing together and waiting for Hikari with others who knew what she was waiting for in why. Tailmon shouldn't have had to grow up to be an adult while the others were still babies.

But if we're going with what ifs and should haves, then all 8 of them should have been at that castle, but with the Agents to teach them about what they were meant to do. With their tags and crests, and knowledge of their meanings. With knowing not just who they were waiting for but why.

In the end, Plotmon found where she was supposed to be, but none of the people who were supposed to be there, were there.

Over a year ago I started watching Xros Wars. 3 days ago I finally finished Hunters last episode. To be fair in the interim I also watched... every other digimon anime in its entirety (except for some movies), finished Cyber Sleuth and played the entirety of Hackers memory.

But I do have some thoughts about Xros Wars, or at least how I'm interpreting things.

So. Taiki.

Taiki's is a “Paragon” type of hero whose biggest flaws are being too dedicated to helping people and as such sometimes collapsing. Admittedly far from my favorite type of character, even when done well. Xros Wars fortunately does make this a flaw that causes them issues at times. Unfortunately though, in my opinion, it does not properly acknowledge this flaw. 

It causes problems in the Lake Zone, when it puts him out of commission. But aside from that it doesn’t really come up. It also sort of comes up again during the Death Generals arc, both with Gravimon’s core, and Yuu’s game. Two instances where it really is Taiki’s life vs. their goals. And the answer seems to be “Taiki is worth more healthy than he is sick/wounded/dead”. Which I think is a good take on the “too good” archetype. And it is something Taiki seems to do less as time goes on.

But I do think Taiki does have a different arc, that does actually get handled better that this ties into. Taiki’s final arc in relation to Apollomon boils down to sometimes, tough decisions have to be made. And I think this is what they were trying to do in episode 25. However, the situation that they are presenting isn’t really a “no good answers” deal, as much as it is Kiriha being an asshole. Taiki learning to have to make tough decisions is a great one for him. The only thing I would wish for in this regard is perhaps a better build up to this. But again, I think this is just a smaller piece of what is supposed to be Taiki’s main arc. But the core of this, is Taiki is someone who can’t turn his back on injustice, can’t turn his back on people. But is willing to throw himself into harm's way for other people. And these two points are related. It parallels Nene and Yuu’s relationship, in which Nene would do anything for Yuu, but in doing so fails to recognize Yuu’s autonomy which ends up hurting everyone involved. It foils Kiriha’s narrative in which he takes responsibility for being too weak to handle things when really he’s a victim.

While I don’t think it’s handled the greatest, I do think this is one of Xros Wars main points. You are not responsible for the actions of other people. You are worth just as much as any other person. Other people can be at fault. Other people can help you out. Everyone is an individual. 

Taiki in episode 30 is not properly giving Akari and Zenjirou the space to make their own decisions. They can’t come anyway, but he’s not really allowing them autonomy. In fairness, Taiki accidentally put them in danger in the first place and it would make sense that he feels guilty for that. But Akari and Zenjirou are their own people who can make their own decisions, and I felt like Taiki grasped that at the end of that arc, or was at least on his way there. Which is why Taiki keeping things from Akari and Zenjirou in Hunters is dumb, although I'm not really judging questionable Hunters decisions in the context of judging Xros.

This also extends to Taiki’s “traumatic backstory” in which Taiki felt guilty about the decisions someone else had made. Manga Taiki had a similar incident, but that incident Taiki was at least a little more involved in the events that transpired. But in both cases, Taiki takes responsibility for something that is not his own fault, in what on the surface seems to be altruism, but is really egotistical. While I think I like the manga’s take on this better, the anime has its own charm in being such an insignificant incident that Taiki latched onto. Either way I think Taiki’s real arc in Xros Wars is coming to realize that he is just one person and that he can’t make decisions for other people. You might even be able to consider the final episodes of Xros Wars, when he willingly patches the torch to Tagiru to be accepting he can’t do it all (or the fact he’s literally too injured to do anything or a half-baked excuse to justify Tagiru, your choice). 

Taiki is capable of denying others help, to a certain extent. Taiki denies helping Shoutmon, at first, because he doesn’t think Shoutmon is someone who's actually in trouble. At least, not to the point of prioritizing him over Zenjirou and Akari, who he stuck in another world, and that takes precedence. He thinks Shoutmon is asking for help for something unnecessary, for his own selfish dream. Taiki’s manga backstory actually makes more sense here because Taiki’s dream lead to hurting others, and that could make him more critical of self-aggrandizing dreams. But that’s a different story. Regardless, Taiki is easily persuaded and it seems it was the “Bigger” problem of Akari and Zenjirou that kept him from easily agreeing to help Shoutmon.

It’s also not as if Taiki is incapable of asking for or accepting help from other people, Akari in particular. In fact he depends on Akari’s help to do what he does. (Even if the show doesn’t acknowledge it past the first arc). But he definitely avoids drawing other people into problems, supporting those that are already involved.

Apollomon and Beelzebumon I think make this come full circle to Taiki. Beelzebumon died because he wouldn’t rest, but he made that decision for himself, a decision that Taiki earlier in the show was willing to make himself. And Apollomon suffered because Taiki refused to do something that he wouldn’t hesitate to do to himself if the roles were swapped. 

There are hard decisions that need to be made in war. But the goal isn’t merely to disregard life when there’s bigger stakes. It's to accept that there are people who are willing to make sacrifices just like you are and accepting their autonomy in being part of these hard decisions. (If this makes sense?)

If we look at Shoutmon’s desire to be King, a King is fundamentally a person who makes decisions on behalf of a group of people. Shoutmon is perhaps a little more honest in his goals. Shoutmon wants to become king so others don’t suffer, and recruits people to his side to accomplish this task. Shoutmon deeply values his friends and allies inputs and wants to be strong enough for their sake, to be a leader. (Thanks episode 25). Meanwhile Taiki is recruited by others for their own goals, because he believes that he owes others his strength.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m reading too far into this or if this was obvious to everyone but me. 

Taiki’s “thing” is his ability to hear the melodies of dying digimon. It’s not really explained why he can, nor does it need to be. It’s just a version of Takuya’s degree of spirituality, or Masaru’s excessive digisoul, or Taichi’s fateful digimon encounter. A thing that sets him apart from the crowd. I actually really like this concept, as Xros Wars does touch on the idea of different people having different destined roles. Being chosen children in unique ways. Xros Wars doesn’t quite do enough with this, or its music motif in my opinion, but this is a really good take on it and a good way of explicitly demonstrating Taiki’s empathy. I think it could be used a little more often, especially later on, but that’s neither here nor there.

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

So while I was working on my… analysis I suppose, on why Digimon Adventure: does not work as a show, it occurred to me that despite claims that Taichi in Adventure: is inspired by V-Tamer Taichi, his partner is an Agumon whose final evolution is Omegamon, and why that doesn’t work. But I realized that it is a point that I could expand on, and so I have separated it out here. Consider it a preview.

The protagonists of Digimon V-Tamer are Yagami Taichi and his partner Zero, a Veedramon. The story is carried by these two alone. While others help and hinder them on their way, their mission is theirs, and the responsibility of defeating Daemon belongs to no one else. It is with that power that they reach their highest form, UlforceVeedramon Future Mode While Taichi is the main protagonist, Zero is just as much a protagonist. Their names, even reference binary. While there are other characters who impact the plot, the role of protagonist belongs to these two. 

This is echoed in the themes of Digimon Adventure:, the digivice in the title supposedly representing the bonds between human and digimon. And, while I don’t think it particularly succeeds, I can see clear attempts to be made to make the digimon partners their own characters, equals to their human partners. 

But yet, Digimon Adventure: uses Omegamon as Taichi and Agumon’s final evolution. And that is a bit of a problem. Digimon Partners are not interchangeable. Well, okay, the species are a bit arbitrary, all things considered, (after all, Zero’s rookie form is also Agumon) but the problem is what UlforceVeedramon represents vs. Omegamon. 

In Digimon Adventure, Omegamon is not Taichi’s power alone. Not by a long shot. Taichi is not the solo human protagonist of Digimon Adventure. Even in the first film, before Hikari was even meant to play a key role in the series, she shared the series debut. Regardless, the burden of defeating Apocalymon is not his alone to bear. And Agumon’s evolutions reflect that. WarGreymon is reached through borrowing Hikari’s power. Omegamon is literally formed by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon (who was formed by borrowing Takeru’s power), but in reality is born from the power of hundreds of people reaching out from across the world. And perhaps even Taichi’s crest of Courage is not something that belongs to him alone. As Yamato puts it, “It’s everyone's Friendship”. Though Taichi best embodies courage, the courage he wields is not his alone. Even tri. which I usually avoid using as an example, has Omegamon Merciful Mode, which very explicitly draws from the other children’s partners. Adventure’s Taichi’s not strong because he himself is powerful. Really compared to Hikari he seems rather unimpressive on his own. He’s strong because he is able to easily act as a receiver to others powers, a trait that is fitting for a leader. Because that’s what sets Adventure Taichi apart from his peers, he’s a leader.

Note, that I didn’t really bring up the partners in regards to the discussion of Adventure, not that they aren’t important, but that they aren’t a driving factor. Digimon partners are something vastly different in Digimon Adventure. They are reflections of the children’s inner selves. For straightforward characters, like Taichi, his partner Agumon is very much like him, and for characters like Sora, Piyomon seems very different. This isn’t to say that the digimon are simply their partners, Tailmon went through quite a bit on her own. But nevertheless, Tailmon is the way she is, because Hikari is the way she is. 

Digimon Partners and their evolutions are not things that are just assigned, and given. They are things that arise from the circumstances. Omegamon is there because the themes and circumstances make Omegamon the most appropriate "Ultra”. This is true both in and out of universe, who can forget SkullGreymon? SkullGreymon isn’t wrong. It’s just not the evolution that fits Taichi and Agumon’s situation.

And here’s the thing. Digimon has done the whole focus on “Bonds with Partner’s” before. That’s Tamers. And in Tamers, the final evolution was born from a human and a digimon literally coming together as one. The final episodes all appear somewhat humanoid as a result, particularly notable from WarGrowmon to Gallentmon. Because that was what evolutions were needed narratively and thematically. Otherwise, we have Megidramon. And guess what, the Adventure timeline also has a movie in which the focus is on the bonds between human and friendship, and lo and behold. In Digimon Adventure Kizuna, Agumon (Bond of Courage) and Gabumon (Bond of Friendship) were born. Born from the bond between human and digimon. They even use the “looking like humans” idea from Tamers.

Interestingly, Kizuna came right before Digimon Adventure: started. 

Now, I am really advocating for the Bond forms to be used in Adventure:, those forms were something special to that timeline. But that’s just the thing. Many evolutions, whether unique digimon or not, are brought about by circumstances unique to that timeline. Look at 02’s usage of Armor levels, Frontier's Hybrids, and Xros Wars' Xros mechanic. It’s not new for later seasons to take these Digimon that have existed in these specific circumstances and use them generically later. It would, after all, be a shame to put all those good designs to waste. But at the very least, the evolutions of the main cast are carefully chosen, created if need be, to fit the show.

And that creates a problem for Adventure: as a reboot. It is pulling from the evolutionary lines of its predecessor, despite aiming for different themes and using an entirely different world and characters, and in the process the meaning behind the evolutions has been stripped out. While it has been able to throw in additional evolutions, most of those are well within the confines of precedent: Armors and Ultimate’s that are already related to these evolutionary lines. Adventure: is trying to be a show that, as a reboot of Adventure, it cannot be. Adventure: spends so much of its time screaming that it is not the original Adventure, while simultaneously dragging in call backs that it loses any sense of identity.

The enemies they fight are not Taichi’s responsibility alone. These kids have to have crests. Agumon must evolve into Omegamon.  Angemon still has to die, HolyAngemon and Angemon have to mean something. Tailmon has to be Adult, and has to have been evil. Hikari and Takeru have to give their brother’s power. Omegamon still has to appear. . They still go to summer camp, and Taichi still fights Parrotmon. 

Note, that this is far from Adventure:’s only problem, however I do think it illustrates a large problem that affects the way certain elements and characters are used in this show. Taichi is a solo protagonist, but his “Ultra” is still Omegamon born of Yamato, Takeru and HIkari’s influence. Mimi is now a bossy rich girl, but her crest is still Purity. Yamato is a loner who doesn’t overly concern himself with others, but he’s still Friendship, and still Takeru’s semi-estranged younger brother. 

When Adventure: manages to work a new angle into the old mold, it works well. Yamato’s focus on his friendship with Gabumon works well, and various side characters work alright. Resolving the conflict over Tailmon’s Ultimates by using both for separate things and bringing in Goddramon is a great idea. But more often than not, it doesn’t. Properly contextualizing what a holy digimon is is great, but Angemon’s death is awkward, and Pegususmon’s presence smooths over the issues of Tailmon being champion and keeping Angemon special in an awkward way, refusing to address what an Armor is. Because they are trying to write a story around a set of evolutions they are required to have while absolutely refusing to be Adventure where it matters. Leading to the awkward mesh of Adventure elements and characters, with themes and stories that they were never meant for. 

If Adventure: was meant to be about the bond between Taichi and Agumon, Omegamon was never going to work, including the concepts of crests, was going to muddle things at the very least, and including 7 whole other partner pairs who are going to require at least a few episodes of focus a piece was not going to work out. It’s not that we couldn’t have had more focus on Taichi and Agumon within a reboot and their bond, or that the idea of Taichi and Agumon (or any other pair), activating an evolution because they are in agreement on a concept isn’t a good idea. Just an understanding that this primary focus wasn’t going to work because Adventure in its very concept has a lot of characters that need some degree of focus. Savers with its heavier Masaru focus and use of shonen tropes, dials back the number of “main” characters to half that of Adventure, because it is built around its premise. That unless they were going to be bumped down to secondary, recurring characters, this was never going to work, because that’s not how Adventure’s concept was intended. To tell a new story, it needed to have dropped a few more of Adventure’s elements. But to do that would be to essentially admit that this isn’t Adventure at all. Adventure: needed to have evaluated what story it could tell with what elements it was required to include.

Anything goes in Digimon, and Adventure: seems to want to make the most of this, using armors, Hybrids and Xros Wars digimon with regularity. But you can’t build a cohesive narrative simply by plucking your favorite ingredients and sticking it in a pot. Some things just don’t go together. You can’t take the ingredients to make bread and make a salad. But in short, V-Tamer Taichi and Adventure Taichi aren’t interchangeable. They are two different characters because they are designed for two different stories, and their partners reflect this. Adventure: was doomed from the start if it didn’t realize this. 

Why I think Appmon is the Best Digimon to Start With

Digimon Universe: Applimonsters, better known as Appmon, is the forgotten digimon series, because it quite frankly barely counts as a digimon series. In fact digimon only appear in one episode. And that is exactly why it is the perfect season to start with when getting into Digimon.

Appmon is just a show I'd recommend on its own, even if it wasn't a digimon show. It's got a lot going for it. It's character's are fun, both larger than life and compelling. The characters start immature and flawed, before growing into themselves. Their character dynamics are honestly also unique and fascinating. The plot is well constructed with regular progression, ample foreshadowing and well-earned twists. It's one of the best shows in the franchise.

A lot of the best things about Appmon, are the reoccurring elements that I love about digimon to begin with. The human/monster relationships where the monster evolutions reflecting human growth, themes about humanities future and cross-cultural interactions, strong sibling relationships, and normal kids growing into heroes. Appmon is very much everything I love about Digimon, and thus showcases some of the best the franchise has to offer. But without, the baggage of being a digimon season.

Digimon can be intensely metatextual. While individual digimon stories may be complete unto themselves, its very common for digimon stories to make reference to other lore and themes. Glossing over them for the older fans. Things like Yggdrasil, Royal Knights, Jogress, File Island, Homeostasis as they appear. They are explained when relevant, sure, and often are excluded more than included but any given entry (Cyber Sleuth for example) may throw a whole heck of a lot of them at you without a whole lot of elaboration on the idea. Appmon almost completely strips out the metatext. It strips out the recognizable monsters and by extension, the virtual pet elements (thus the two baby levels and eggs), the character archetype shorthand's, and general digimon reference book references. No Leomon or Wizarmon variants to wave death flags. No virus, data, vaccine types nor armor or hybrid levels or x-antibodies potentially randomly dropped in without context. Because it's not that context is ever really needed: they'll explain if they are, but there is still the decades long, exceedingly over-complicated metalore cooking in the background of any given digimon series. Instead the Appmon being Apps means that any context on the creatures are rather self evident, their app type. The simple act of living in our modern society provides enough context. There are a lot of references to IRL AI culture, such as all the protagonists being seemingly named after AI, and the Dartmouth Workshop of 1956 being a plot point. Appmon has plenty of references and lore, it's just not overly all about Digimon. It doesn't completely strip out metatextual references to digimon, but it is kept subtle and unobtrusive. Haru has goggles because they make him more protag like, the kids find a phone booth, the kids are called "chosen children" once, and episode 44 does bring in Agumon as a video game but its non intrusive and isn't really used as any sort of shorthand. You can know that goggles that do nothing is a very extra character design element denoting protag status without knowing its a digimon thing. Old fashioned technology and modern kids is always funny. The kids were in fact chosen. And one episode out of 52 being a cute and heartfelt crossover is nothing. In short, Appmon doesn't have any of the baggage that might make a traditional Digimon season difficult to get into.

Which is probably the reason they made Appmon, well Appmon to begin with. Why they decided to start the franchise fresh so to speak to target the child (new) demographic while tri. targeted the older demographic. Appmon's come and gone, and they've abandoned that strategy, so newer entries of digimon still try to capture a new demographic while building on the old, so Appmon still remains as most stand alone entry of the anime.

But it is still very digimon in the ways that matter, meaning that if you DO like Appmon, you're very likely going to find at least one other season worth looking into. Logistically the season is a lot like Hunters and Ghost Game, with how evolution and the digital field works, the characters vaguely (with heavy emphasis on vaugely) resemble the Tamer's cast, the way the human digimon relationship's function resembles Savers imo. It's themes of humanities future and chosen one narratives are very Adventure. In other words it feels like a digimon season, because it works a lot like what came before it. Really, digimon seasons vary a lot. For the most part no two seasons are alike, there are very few things consistent in Digimon. Just a lot of things that reoccur frequently. So in the end, Appmon feels like a Digimon season, because it's just like a Digimon season in every way EXCEPT for the actual monsters.

Appmon is particularly similar in it's themes. Digimon often tackles themes of identity, alternate selves, destiny and responsibility, humanities evolution, humanities relationship with digital technology, and cross cultural exchange. So an entry may dive right into: what happens when you abuse your alternate self, or where does the locus of the self actually lie, glossing over the lighter "what would it be like to have an alternate self". Appmon covers many these themes too but it does so through the fresh lens, of Apps and realisticish (Heavy emphasis on the 'ish') AI, building its case from the ground up rather than falling back on typical digital world backstories. What makes an AI a fully fledged person, what is the point of being alive, how will humanity handle being overtaken by its creation, humanties newfound dependence on various AIs, and how can humans and sufficiently advanced AI coexist without one taking advantage of the other. Many of the same themes Digimon usually covers, but in the more specific context of a war between hyperintelligent super AI. Rarely are digimon significantly more intelligent than a human, but Appmon builds itself around the idea. Being Very Digimon, while also bringing something new to the table.

Appmon may have come out in 2016, but it's themes of AI transcending humanity are perhaps more topical than when it debuted. The original Digimon was on some level born out of the mystique of the new technology that the internet was in the early 2000s. As such, while Digimon generally toes the line between sci-fi and fantasy, it usually incorperates Sci-Fi aesthetics, but fantasy worldbuilding. Appmon's worldbuilding actually is heavily sci-fi, no implications of magic, but the themes and motifs of the story border still on mythological. Something closer to our modern understanding of technology. We know our internet, it's nothing special to us anymore. But we forget to a certain extent the power held by the internet in the modern day. Who is this power meant for? Digimon is in many ways, conceptually, a holdover from a bygone era, even as it seeks to stay modern. But Appmon is unapologetically modern, in a way that feels like it should have aged super fast, but somehow still feels contemporary 8 years later.

The other side of what makes Appmon the best to start isn't just that it's good to start with, it's that the other seasons are worse. To start with that is. I love them to death, and I don't think they are necessarily bad, but if you aren't already interested in what digimon has to offer, it might be a bit harder to sell. With how metatextual digimon can be you might think the first season would be the best place to start. I mean how could it not be. It's the first. Well, not exactly. Adventure is both the best and worst place to start otherwise. It is one of the cornerstones of the franchise, and so much of what comes after calls back to it. Adventure is a subtle story in a lot of ways that leaves a lot of the details to be parsed on rewatches. It's a genuinely passionate piece of art. In fact, the show is so detailed they many of the details didn't even make it in the show, with lore clarified in side materials. Most of these details aren't incredibly important, but they do provide insight into some of the shows otherwise confusing choices. Also, most were never officially translated into english. Also, the shows attention to detail left the show rife with opportunities for translation to be mishandled, leading to additional issues. Not to mention the 90s weren't exactly known for their faithful dubs, and this is true of Adventure too. Though Adventure itself still suffers a lot from metatext even outside of its own lore. Taichi's name and design are reused from the manga. File island, Server Continent, the idea of "raising digimon", the frequent presence of "garbage" digimon, and the disjointed evolution lines, are all borrowed from the general V-Pet lore. And ultimately Adventure is even more complicated by the franchises refusal to let it go. New releases, and cameos in other works are varying degrees of canon incompliant. Sometimes recent releases are insightful to the original work, sometimes they perpetuate misconceptions about the original work. Sometimes both. Sometimes its hard to say one way or another. To be clear, Adventure isn't really that complicated, itself. Very enjoyable even if you don't think too hard on it. But it's barely covering a whole maze of rabbit holes. I do recommend Adventure and 02, and it can ABSOLUTELY work as a first digimon series. But it does leave itself open to a lot of bad takes.

But, a familiarity with Adventure is sort of required to get the full effect of Tamer's, which serves as a sort of deconstruction of Adventure era digimon to a certain extent, or to actually understand Digimon Survive (a visual novel) which is in many ways a more mature retelling of Digimon Adventure. Otherwise Digimon series are either too unique in premise (Frontier and Xros Wars), and/or not very good (Adventure: 2020, Ghost Game) to warrant as a recommendation for a "first" digimon series. In all fairness, all digimon season are a perfectly fair place to start. None of them depend on each other to tell their story. I'd even argue that 02 is an acceptable place to start, if a baffling one. You don't need to know the meta-textual elements to appreciate their stories and characters and worldbuilding. That's how the franchise has survived through its multiple iterations. But when Digimon throws "Armor" level around casually, an artifact of an old storyline, it's kind of hard to argue that on some level digimon doesn't have an overwhelming history.

Savers is my second choice recommendation of a first digimon season. It too has its own metatextual elements of course, they are less overt and Saver's also just does its own thing worldbuilding wise a surprising amount. Otherwise its a solid story that utilizes typical digimon tropes, but doesn't explicitly call back to Adventure in its premise.

Of course there ARE other digimon media. The original Digimon media was the V-pets, which are fun, but have niche appeal. The same applies to the Digimon World games. Speaking of which, Digimon Games are generally not the best way to get into the franchise. They're mostly not very good, and I'd also add that Digimon games are even more heavily marketed to pre-existing digimon fans than the animes are. Digimon Cyber Sleuth is maybe the only exception, but even that very heavily pays homage to Digimon Adventure. Though, some of the manga, like Liberator or V-Tamer might be good places to start too.

There is one big problem though with Appmon as a first series. No English dub. Now, generally speaking the digimon fandom is plagued by bad translations. So many of the dubs generally kinda suck, so I usually recommend subs anyway, but I recognize not everyone can handle subs. There is a french dub, for those who understand French. I don't so I don't even know if its a good dub. If you're a dub only person honestly I recommend Tamers as a first season. It was the first one I finished. Its got a few issues that hold it back as an ideal first show for the uninitiated, but a solid story you don't actually need any context for. Adventure and Saver's dubs have problems imo that keep me from recommending them. (There IS a more supposedly more accurate SE asian dub of the early digimon seasons out there, but its harder to find + I haven't actually watched more than a few clips so I feel I can't exactly speak to its overall quality).

Ultimately, Digimon is the kind of thing where you can jump in anytime, and the kind of thing where there are plenty of fans who would be happy to explain the weird stuff. But you DO have to start somewhere. I just personally suggest Appmon.

Appmon is overall, just a solid children's tv anime on its own, as well as a fantastic example of what a digimon season can be. But without the 20+ years of baggage.

In continuing Adventures of talking about Appmon, its the resident team girl, and action idol, Eri. 

I think overall I have the least to say about Eri. I think out of our main group she had the least going on, even considering Rei and Yuujin’s relative lack of screen time, as Rei and Yuujin had a lot going on. That isn’t to say she isn’t well developed. 

While I was a bit suspicious of the sole female protag being an idol, I think in Eri’s case it worked because being an idol is something that ties into the main story, and is a role she can only play because she’s a girl. As being an idol is something largely female exclusive, it allows her to have a subplot where she can interact with other girls in positive ways. Being an idol also gave her bonus image songs and an ED to herself, which while just surface level focus, is still focus. On a more direct level her being an idol provided Overall, Eri being an idol ended up working very well for both Appmon’s overall plot and Eri’s characterization. 

Like most of Appmon’s main cast, we don’t know all that much about her home life. But we know enough. She lives with her single mom, who seems to be an office worker who works long hours to support her daughter. Eri’s mother tells Eri that she’s happy as long as Eri’s happy. She seems to have the same sort of selfless personality that defines Eri, the kind of person who will willingly work herself into the ground given proper motivation. 

Eri deciding to be an idol specifically is somewhat selfish in motivation, something that Eri herself wants to do. But she decided to commit to be an idol at her mother’s wishes for her own happiness. She claims to want to make other people smile, even if early in the series it seems hard to see that through her stoking her own ego and aggressiveness. But even that seems to come from a place of not knowing exactly how to balance her dedication to her self-centered idol persona and her more thoughtful genuine self. As Dokamon says in her debut episode, he and Eri feel the same way about making people smile. They just approach the issue differently. Dokamon is a Appmon that is earnest in his affections and goals, in contrast to Eri’s more evasive outward idol persona.

Eri’s idol persona initially is a bit overbearingly thick, even to those in the industry. But, Eri’s true colors have shown since the beginning. Eri’s arrogant persona often causes her to stand on chairs, but as the others note, she always takes off her shoes. In episode 11, Astra also mentions that Eri helped an old lady up a hill. But because it doesn’t match her “image” Eri tried to avoid getting out. Eri has a somewhat lonely background it seems due to her mother’s frequent absences, though we see her walking home with classmates implying she had some friends. This is a show where the school and family lives largely aren’t very relevant, so its hard to get a full grasp on Eri’s social situation prior to the series. But nevertheless Eri is shown to have felt extremely lonely, so it tracks that she struggles with showing her softer side to other people outside of this abrasive and arrogant persona that’s given her confidence and attention. Eri was always a considerate girl, she just grew more comfortable in her kindness, which is to the benefit of her idol career as well. Eri’s episode about doing food reviews may seem somewhat arbitrary, but food reviews are something that her arrogant act is not compatible with. In order to do proper food reviews, she needs to show a genuine attention to detail with the food, and show that she cares about the review, she needs to show her more genuinely thoughtful side. 

Like Astra, Eri grows to be a bit more genuine, a bit softer to those around her. She clearly grows to care a lot about the other kids, and grows to communicate her affections better (i.e. less abrasively and more charmingly). Her buddy, on the other hand, is openly affectionate and doting, to an extreme from the very beginning. While initially she often walks over Dokamon, she grows to be openly affectionate with him, as well as more openly gentle in how she presents herself to others, even as an idol, something that becomes clear with Eri’s interactions with her younger fans. 

All things considered though, Eri doesn’t necessarily change a whole lot over the course of the series, aside from the aforementioned mellowing of her idol persona. Though to be fair all of the Appmon kids arcs were more about growing into the traits they already had than anything else. But unlike the rest of the group, she has a tangible personal goal (seemingly) unrelated to the whole Leviathan situation: becoming a better idol. And her abilities are tested with the idol elections. While others are getting focus episodes on family or plot developments (or both), Eri’s focus episodes also relate to her idol career. While I think this could be viewed as a negative, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and Eri’s episodes are always enjoyable. It’s a simple, but effective way of demonstrating Eri’s dedication and growth, Eri starts as a newbie, and she ends in the top 10, with plenty of firsts for her career along the way.

Eri starts the show stubborn and caring, and ends the show the same way, but she’s stronger, and wiser. She grows to focus on supporting her fans and understanding how being an idol makes others smile, rather than just being an idol. By the end of the series Eri is better able to look at where she is and decide where she wants to go. Being an idol is an end to the means. Being an idol is a way to make people smile, and in order to do that Eri is more than willing to pause her idol career due to Leviathan’s involvement. Eri’s willing to aim for number one, while still being completely aware of the fact that she’s not yet number one. Eri obviously wants to be an idol. This is something she doesn’t do out of obligation, but she still uses it as a way of helping others. She’s more able to grasp and address the bigger picture.

It’s why she joins the fight in the first place, though she’s somewhat dragged into the situation by Haru and Gatchmon, she comes to recognize her primary priority is making others smile. Her aggressive, confident nature actually lends itself well to the fights. Allowing her the courage and confidence that Haru initially lacks, even if she initially lacks the motivation that Haru has. Eri is an idol, so she has strengths that lie in the performance industry, but she’s an idol of action games specifically, which serves her idol persona as well as it does her role as and Appdriver. While it often doesn’t get the chance to shine, Eri is a martial artist, and so her threats of violence, while largely hollow, do have a backing to them, and she’s more than capable of looking out for herself. Her composure while escaping the ship, and while fighting Yuujin in the finale are just delightful to watch and shows off that she’s the real muscle of the team. Even without taking Dokamon into account.

Dokamon who is also physical powerhouse and also representative of action games, making him tough, but also fun loving. Dokamon is a “male” Appmon, the only example of an opposite gender partner in Appmon. Dokamon often plays the role of Eri’s biggest fan and defender. This isn’t dissimilar to the more knight like role many other “male” digimon play towards their female partners. However Dokamon’s far too earnest and childish to really bare any similarities, and his relationship with Eri feels more like one of an adoring younger brother to a cool older sister.

 A difference between how Dokamon and Eri act is in the way they relate to the others. Eri is among the oldest of the Applidrivers, and as such sits higher on the social order. Dokamon, like many of the Appmon is somewhat child coded, and in particular Dokamon is shown to admire and look up to Eri and Gatchmon, and otherwise acts in a more deferential manner. (Sorry I couldn’t get this to sound right, I hope my point gets across). Despite Eri’s show of arrogance, she also has immense respect and adoration for others, particularly in regards to her coworkers (especially Izumi), and seeks to learn from them. Over the course of the show we see more of that adoring side, and less of her arrogant act. It's the support of others, and her learning how to support others in turn, that gives her her strength.

The most obvious example of Eri learning how to work with people is in how Eri initially shut Dokamon out, but clearly came to work with him closely. In her second focus episode she asked Perorimon for help reviewing food, even if she framed it as a great honor to Perorimon. And of course she accepted the help Coachmon offered her in regards to idol training. The difference between Dosukomon’s debut and Oujamon’s is in that Eri asked for Perorimon’s help, and then didn’t trust in his advice and then assumed he was causing trouble, but with Coachmon Eri put her full faith in him, even when it wasn’t a good idea, and even after Coachmon admitted that he was working for Leviathan Eri was able to immediately accept that and trust him. And on the human side of things she was initially dismissive of Astra, but came to ask for his help for a key role in marketing herself for the idol elections. Eri is also the one who has the discussion with Yuujin about trusting in Haru to save them when they are trapped on a train together. On the flip side, its ultimately Eri who Rei has to ask for assistance in rescuing Hajime. Working with others is a huge part of her arc.

Eri’s story is about making people smile, both in using her strength to protect people as well as the power of being openly considerate of other people. Learning to find strength in her connections with others rather than arrogantly trying to handle things herself.

Other notes:

Eri’s debut is showing off the clutter of her bag for a wide audience, but notably, the thing she chooses to pick up off the table is her Appdrive. She doesn’t draw any attention to it, but she removes it from inspection before anyone else can get to it. Showing some degree of particular care for the object on Eri’s end, even if initially she’s more of ignoring the whole thing.

Eri initially keeps Dokamon hidden away because he’s annoying. Eri, initially, is shown to grade on the nerves of everyone else because of her dedication to her arrogant role. Dokamon’s biggest cause of arrogance is that he’s exceedingly vocal about singing Eri’s praises. (Can you tell I just rewatched episode 5).

Mirrors

Haru once calls Yuujin his Hajime to Rei. And as far as narrative parallels go its true. I’d argue all of our main protags have a person. For Haru that’s Yuujin, and for Rei its Hajime. And for Astra and Eri it’s each other, though they aren’t as clear an example for numerous reasons, and are not the clear parallel Haru and Yuujin are to Rei and Hajime. 

Haru is to Rei as Yuujin is to Hajime.

This parallel is also furthered by Yuujin and Hajime’s appmon. Offmon and Bootmon(Onmon). I’d also like to draw attention to their lines, as they're the ones that didn’t get full focus for logistical reasons. Offmon goes Super with Hackmon(Rei’s buddy). Onmon goes super with Gatchmon (Haru’s buddy). So… their super partners are the buddies of the other “main protag.” I mean, I think it's also game/marketing logistics because in the 3DS game, which I kind of assume many of the logistics were designed for (though I’m sure the anime was also being planned concurrently) because they are also the buddies of the main protag and the rival in the game, so giving their supers the anime protag buddy and the anime “rival” buddy just makes sense but I digress. 

Yuujin is an AI who goes through the story as a “Human”. Hajime is a human who is converted to an AI. Yuujin was let out into the world to gather information and act as a double agent. Hajime was taken from the world to make use of his skills as a programmer. Both are used by Leviathan against their will. Yuujin is younger than he seems, and Hajime is more capable than his age would indicate. They are the characters whose existence acts as a catalyst to their “Protectors” future. At the beginning of the show Hajime’s abduction is what catalyzes Rei into becoming an Applidriver, and is his driving force for much of the show. Yuujin’s death at the end of the show is what catalyzes Haru’s decision to study computer science. That said, Haru’s decision to become an Appdriver is also influenced by Yuujin, declaring Haru has the potential to be a protagonist. Yuujin noted that Haru was changing, and that he had made new friends before he was brought into the fold, helping to highlight how Haru was changin even without Yuujin. Similarly, Hajime’s return at the end of the series seems to lead to Rei relaxing and truly appreciating all that he’s gained as an Applidriver when Hajime was gone. Even if he was already starting to appreciate everyone else beforehand.

Consistently throughout the story Haru was the one who understood that Rei’s priority was Hajime and was constantly reaching out to him to help with that. Haru was going to help Rei save his precious person. Yuujin was also kidnapped later in the story, and his rescue was helped by everyone, including Rei pitching in.

Rei thought he put Hajime in danger, but Hajime put himself in danger as Hajime was the one who “won”. Haru avoided telling Yuujin about Appmon because he wanted to keep him safe, despite the fact that Yuujin was his friend was because of the danger in the first place, and really, it being likely that if it hadn’t been for Yuujin Haru wouldn’t have become a “protagonist”. (Another case of Minerva and Leviathan’s circular 4D chess game). 

Hajime created Bootmon. Hajime is already proficient in creating AI. This is what led to his abduction. But this is something that Haru hopes to study at the end of the show in order to bring Yuujin back.

Rei worked himself down and stopped taking care of himself in order to rescue Hajime, and was reckless in his pursuit. Haru similarly did reckless stunts to save Gatchmon, the world, and Yuujin. Yuujin actually did sacrifice himself, twice to save Haru and everyone else. Not to mention stopping Shutmon. 

Yuujin’s sacrifice to save the world at the cost of his own life, ending Leviathan’s plans, is probably the series crowning moment, but Hajime also sacrificed himself to let Bootmon escape in an attempt to prevent Leviathan’s plans from coming to fruition.  All four of these boys were tied to the plot in ways they didn’t fully understand at first, and are all the types of people to put their all into protecting people, even at the cost of their own well being.

    Okay, but now that I’ve talked about the obvious plot players I’d like to talk about our final pair. Astra and Eri aren’t really as plot important as the other four. There really is no reason they of all people ended up as Appdrivers. They are both there to round out the cast so to speak. 

    Eri is the only girl of the group (as well as one of the oldest members of the group), and Astra is the only elementary schooler and somehow simultaneously both the season's token “traditional household” and the season’s token half-japanese diversity. They are both public entertainers, a role that stands in stark contrast with Rei’s intensely on the grid off the grid way of living. Their arcs both related heavily to making their decisions because of how much they care about their families.  They are also a bit similar demeanor wise. They both have obnoxious catchphrases, are as purposefully arrogant as part of their schtick. As I said before, neither of them have a particularly large stake in the fight against leviathan (besides the obvious) and so overall have the same place narratively.

    I mean, we didn’t know Haru’s connection to the whole thing initially, and it seems even Ai’s tangentially connected. But it can be said that Minerva somewhat purposefully chose someone she believed could be an idol to be an Appdriver because it would give them insider access to L-corp and the media. We know she’s not against somewhat far fetched plans (Yuujin for one). Which is why I think Eri’s idol career has a surprising amount of focus in the show because of its relevance to the plot. I can’t think of any reason why Astra would be a choice for an appdriver, beyond his social media presence, and… maybe a risk taken that didn’t pan out the way Minerva hoped (I mean, an elementary student, somewhat laid back, with little free time? There had to be some reason?). 

    Speaking of Minerva, Astra and Eri’s questions stand in stark contrast to each other. Eri’s question is related to deciding to support other people, and Astra’s question is related to following his own heart rather than people’s expectations.

    Specifically Eri became an Appdriver after discussing with her mother about how hard she was working and her mom assuring her that she was happy as long as she did as she liked. Eri of course, did do as she liked, choosing to be an idol because idols made her happy hoping she could share that happiness, particularly to her mother who was working to make her happy. Early episodes featured Eri meeting fans, or in other words those who she was making smile, thus fulfilling that role. While her focus episodes became more about Eri’s drive as an idol, to succeed in her career for her mom by the end, she was willing to give up being an idol to move out from under Leviathan and more plot reasons.

    Like Eri, Astra started out rather lonely, and became an Apptuber because watching an Apptuber made him happy. But unlike Eri’s initial episodes, which were about learning who exactly it was she was supporting as an idol, beyond herself (and mother) which made her efforts to succeed as an idol later on more appreciated. Astra’s first focus episodes were about him being himself learning not to try and be someone he’s not, even in his new role, and that he shouldn’t have to impress people. His later focus episodes then went to deciding that even if he was choosing his own path as an Apptuber, he was still holding to obligations because he wanted to hold to them, and finding ways to support his family as an Apptuber. Astra’s arc is a little harder to grasp due to the relative lack of focus episodes, and like the Katsura’s backstory, not really being explained in full, his motivations as a character are a bit multilayered.

And as I’ve said, each member of the cast has their “important person” who they’d potentially sacrifice the fight for. Yuujin and Haru for each other, and the Katsura brothers for each other. Despite having no deep backstory prior to the start of the show, and in fact kind of starting out at constant odds they form an extremely close relationship over the course of the show. Astra treats Eri with his trademark casualness (referring her to just Eri, which is something no one else does, but also, he treats everyone like this). But Eri quite notably refers to Astra as “Tora”. While she picks this habit up before she met Jenny, it’s interesting to note that Jenny also calls Astra “Tora”. (And Dantemon? For Whatever reason?). And for his part, Astra does not discourage her from calling him this, despite the fact it’s probably a rather personal nickname. I personally take this as sort of an indicator as the sibling-like relationship they have. (I think it’s very important that despite their numerous moments showcasing their relationship, there is never any romantic implication. I mean, it’d be kinda weird since it’s 3 years and they are still so young. But it's not unshippable by any means, and I’ve seen worse).

While Rei was shown to prioritize Hajime over everything throughout the show, and Haru’s internal struggle with fighting over his friend are clear moments of characters having to choose to do the right thing at the potential harm to their loved ones, Astra also has a moment like this in regards to Eri during his final fight with Fakemon. There’s also the way he reacts when he realizes she’s potentially in danger in episode 36. Astra cares deeply for Eri and despite the casualness in the way he treats her, it’s clear that he has a lot of respect for her, and the passion she dedicates to being an idol.

Another important moment is when Astra asks Eri why she’s working herself so hard. Astra of course knows his father who works himself to the point of the detriment to his health, and so this drive is something he is familiar with, but as Astra’s arc is the one that relates to him doing what he thinks his best for himself, and then the support to others working its way in from that. Eri’s arc is more about learning to work to others’ benefit as well as your own. So Astra being the one to ask her if working herself like this is really what she wants to do and thinks she should do.

Eri doesn’t have a similar dramatic moment over Astra, much of her growth involving less personal interactions between people. Again, Eri’s career is marked by inspiring more people, and perhaps being more big picture, Eri is frequently approached by fans, and is constantly building her presence. And while Astra has his fans, he’s rarely approached on the street and has relatively little fan interaction.

 Whereas Astra’s shown to have a more narrow minded focus on who he cares about, doing Apptube primarily to do as he’d like, getting over his focus on other people's opinions rather early on. His priority being his family, Musimon, and his friends (especially Eri). But Eri does seem to care for Astra in return. Her reaching out to save Astra during episode 15 was a moment where she reached out to someone first to help forge a bond.

Perhaps its because Astra and Eri are the characters meant to flesh out the cast, is why I find them and their dynamic so interesting. They aren’t part of this tragedy. But they, and to a lesser extent Haru’s friends, tie the cast back to the rest of the world, which I think was really important in Appmon.

The characters in Appmon relate to each other both in their relationships with each other and the parallels in which they go about protecting and supporting each other. In this way, connecting to each other, AI or human, learning from each other and changing how they act, they come to push back against Leviathan's idea of the predictability of humanity, and against fear for those we don't understand.

After nearly 2 years I finally finished survive, all routes. I've had Harmony done for a long time, and finished Moral and Truthful like a year ago. Just finished wrathful. I love these kids so much, I'm just a busy person. Miyuki is probably my favorite, but considering Hikari is my Adventure favorite and Kyubimon is my favorite digimon, and I'm a huge fan of Renamon's line in general, that really shouldn't be a surprise. Miyuki's even an older sister.

Speaking of Adventure, I'm also halfway through rewatching Adventure (eng sub), got a vital hero (they're relatively cheap now it's been fun to mess around with) have restarted cyber sleuth, and am planning to get Next 0rder next time its on sale, so to say Digimon is on the brain would be an understatement.

I have new adventure thoughts AND survive thoughts. Okay some of my survive thoughts are old, but I didn't want to say anything until I had the full picture of the world and story and now I do.

Mimi notably never directly refers to Yamato over the course of both adventure and 02. However there IS an implication of interactions in the first half of the show.

Mimi is one of the youngest in the group. Though she and Koshiro are the same age, Koshiro's quiet serious nature and computer skills often lead him to be treated more seriously while Mimi's penchant for complaining (no matter how justified), makes her treated a little more like a junior. There's a hierarchy of protection, that Mimi sits only above Takeru for. Mimi, being on the younger side, is more free to complain about her situation. Sora clearly looks after Mimi as the senior girl, as does Joe as the oldest over all, but Yamato also seems to look after her, at least in the first half of the season, as an extension of looking after Takeru. For instance, very early in the series, Yamato advocated for taking a break, presumably on behalf of Takeru, but it was both Takeru and Mimi who were struggling. And in episodes 5, 7, and 19 Yamato seems to be tasked with looking after the younger kids, Takeru and Mimi, Koshiro sometimes, even if I don't think it was necessarily purposeful in 5.

As such while we don't see much of Yamato and Mimi directly interacting it does stand to reason that they get along and do work well together. Yamato is generally rather considerate of people's negative emotions, such as with how he treated Sora's breakdown in episode 26 and how he handled Mimi's graves early in the dark masters arc. I would imagine that Yamato is relatively tolerant of Mimi's complaining. Conversely I would imagine Yamato is someone who Mimi holds a lot of respect for.

As a side note, the fact Taichi leaves Hikari in Yamato's care I think also speaks to Yamato's unspoken role of "babysitter", the complimentary shield to the role of sword Taichi plays. Yamato's tendency to prioritize the group's well being, over Taichi's tendency to take initiative and confront enemies. It also of course makes sense in the context of their crests, Taichi is courage (to do things), and Yamato's is friendship (to look after people).

And of course on the other side we get Joe Taichi and Sora as a group, the initiative takers, the ones who are more likely to do a dangerous job. Joe who went out in episode 7, Taichi and Sora who went to find him. Those three were the ones dealing with Andromon while the others looked around the factory, and the ones who went in for Sora's crest. Koshiro goes either way depending on if his skills are necessary or not.